Latin America in Short: Ortega Dissolves Red Cross in Nicaragua | Lionel Messi Wins Laureus Award

This week the Ortega regime ordered the dissolution of the Red Cross in Nicaragua. In global news, Donald Trump is proposing an impartial US stance on the Ukrainian conflict. In health news, monkeypox cases have dropped significantly around the world. Regarding the environment, the World Forum on Forests is taking place. Finally, in sports, Lionel Messi wins the Laureus award for the best athlete in the world while the NBA season is about to end. The most relevant of the week is summarized here.

Donald Trump proposes an even-handed US stance on Ukraine

The former US president and today the main Republican candidate for 2024, Donald Trump, had his first big event in the national press. A meeting with the CNN medium in which he made several clear positions and reaffirmed his controversial positions. First of all, Trump wanted to distance himself from supporting Ukraine. He called for a greater commitment from his allies in Europe and refused to say whether his ultimate intentions are a Ukrainian victory or branding Vladimir Putin a war criminal. The businessman claims to have a diplomatic position that allows him to speed up the end of the conflict.

Likewise, he stated that he would be willing to pardon several prisoners after the protests at the Capitol on the day of Joe Biden's inauguration. Likewise, he criticized the past 2020 elections that he still dismisses as fraudulent. The former president also referred to the case of sexual abuse of the writer Jean Carroll. The denunciation of the events that would have occurred in the 1990s convinced a civil jury and sentenced the Republican leader guilty. Trump must pay a demand of 5 million dollars. In the meeting with CNN, the politician continued to deny Carroll's allegations. Finally, Trump reaffirmed past positions such as increasing immigration control, debt default, conservative agenda, among other positions.

Political persecution in Nicaragua affects NGOs

The Daniel Ortega regime ordered the dissolution of the Red Cross in Nicaragua because it "acted against the principles of impartiality and neutrality" when serving protesters against the Sandinista government in 2018. According to the measure approved by a controlled Congress, the NGO not only loses its permit in the country, but all its assets were seized and will pass into the hands of the Ministry of Health.

Read also: Nicaragua: This Is the Eccentric Restriction of Daniel Ortega to Stay in Power

Cases of Mpox (monkey pox) have been reduced by 90%

Mpox, or more popularly known as monkeypox, has been controlled almost everywhere in the world. This Wednesday, the director general of the World Health Organization reported that in the last 3 months cases have been reduced by 90%. However, the international medical community is invited not to lower its guard and to maintain prevention, care and vaccination efforts. “So far, almost 60,000 confirmed cases of mpox and 116 deaths have been reported in Latin America and North America,” the WHO reported. In this regard, the Pan American Health Organization has made various prevention plans. One of his latest strategies has been with the Grindr dating application, to disclose information on it.

The World Forum on Forests is being held

This Monday the United Nations Forum on Forests was inaugurated and will end today, May 12. This is an event in which Member States and key civil society actors meet to discuss conservation plans for this critical planetary resource. According to the UN: "Every year 10 million hectares of forests are lost, an area similar to that of the Republic of Korea." For this reason, stopping deforestation is a priority issue. In this area, South America is the main actor, since almost 90% of forest losses between 2000 and 2018 were in tropical areas, especially in South America. However, the region has also managed to halve deforestation.

Lionel Messi: the best athlete in the world

Argentine soccer player Lionel Messi was awarded the Laureus award for the best athlete in the world. This is the second time that the PSG player has won this important award. Likewise, it should be mentioned that, in this year's voting, the Argentine star was able to far surpass other athletes such as Max Verstappen, Rafael Nadal, Kylian Mbappé and Stephen Curry. As if this were not enough, Messi is the only footballer who won this award, an aspect that ratifies him as one of the most important players in the history of this sport.

The best players of the season in the NBA

The NBA season is about to end, so the best basketball players in the 2022-2023 campaign have already been announced. The MVP of the regular season was Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid, an award that confirms him as one of the most dominant players in recent years. The defender of the year award went to Jaren Jackson Jr of the Memphis Grizzlies, the coach of the year was Mike Brown of the Sacramento Kings; the sixth best man went to Malcolm Brogdon of the Boston Celtics and lastly, the Rookie of the Year was Paolo Banchero of the Orlando Magic.